The present invention relates to a method of checking elevator installations. In addition, the invention relates to an elevator installation which is provided with a car, an elevator drive and an elevator controller comprising a memory and to which an indicating and control unit is coupled.
Elevator installations have to be checked after their installation or after involved repair measures. In particular, after installing the elevator installation, commissioning of operation is required in which numerous parameters have to be set and an extensive and detailed check of the individual components of the elevator installation is carried out. A series of method steps have to be performed, which must be carried out after the fitting of all mechanical parts and all electrical components in order to place the installation in a state enabling normal operation. Belonging to the essential method steps of the commissioning operation are, inter alia, checking of the mechanical and electrical requirements, activation of the electrical components, checking of the drive, configuring shaft information for determining the position and speed of the elevator car and configuring an elevator controller as well as a device for measuring the car load and the communications interfaces.
After the commissioning of operation the elevator installation has to undergo an acceptance check. The acceptance check is carried out by a person authorized for this activity, i.e. the acceptance examiner, and comprises a series of checks which must be compulsorily undertaken before transfer of the elevator installation to the customer so as to establish whether the installation fulfils the provided specification or whether the legally prescribed guidelines and standards are fulfilled or whether deficiencies exist and, if so, where these are present.
The acceptance check is concluded with creation of an acceptance log which records the results of the checks undertaken. In accordance with legal requirements the acceptance examiner has to be personally responsible for the result of the acceptance check. Various certificates, for example a conformity confirmation, a completion agreement or an acceptance certificate, are made out and have to be personally signed. The acceptance examiner accordingly has a personal interest in gaining a dependable general idea at the location of the elevator installation with regard to all requirements to be checked inclusive of the legal standards and with regard to the relevance of the various results of the acceptance check. In that case the currently usual documentation does not make it easy to obtain this overview in the individual case, especially since details for an elevator type are indeed usually contained in the records, but additionally present are cross-references to other sources, for example to legal standards and specific data sheets for certain components, which have to be separately evaluated.
The concrete steps of commissioning operation and/or acceptance checking of an elevator installation are usually dependent on the specific configuration of the elevator installation. In that case, in particular, the type or series of the elevator installation and the design of the elevator installation with respect to size, power and convenience play a decisive role.
Commissionings of operation and acceptance checks according to a conventional pattern involve effort for the person carrying out the checks and offer many opportunities to make errors which from time to time are overlooked. This is particularly due to the fact that each elevator installation has to be individually constructed and consequently requires individualized checking. Even a fit of elevator installations of the same series in buildings with different building parameters necessitates different measures for commissioning operation and acceptance checking. Further developments of elevator installations require constant adaptation of the measures for commissioning operation and acceptance checking. These further developments are contained in a multiplicity of supplementary documents so that the operation commissioner and the acceptance examiner have to take a number of individual case decisions which depend on the concrete configuration of the elevator, for example the type of elevator, the type of drive used, the type of safety brake used, the layout of the elevator with respect to height of the shaft, the maximum transportable load, the intended maximum speed of the car, etc., in order to determine the appropriate measures for commissioning operation and acceptance checking. With the multiplicity of decision choices, many mistakes can be made particularly due to overlooking details or omission of individual measures.
Moreover, a multiplicity of measurement values have to be detected, wherein further measures have to be selected in dependence on the measurement values, particularly in the case of deviations between actual values and target values. The target values in that case depend in part on several parameters of the elevator configuration and have to be ascertained for each individual case. For example, the action of a safety brake depends on the type of brake and also on other installation parameters, such as, for example, the mass and intended maximum speed of the elevator car or the layout of the guide rails for the car.
In order to undertake commissioning of operation or acceptance checking, comprehensive documentation is necessary which the operation commissioner or acceptance checker has to carry if he or she wants to always be equipped for all possible installation types and configurations of an installation type. If he or she wishes to carry only the absolutely necessary documents of a specific elevator installation it is necessary to make a deliberate selection on each occasion, wherein documents can easily be forgotten or wrong documents selected.